Words Felt Not Heard
by Olamach
Summary: He owed her, so he always protected her. When the world began to crumble it became a lot harder. She's not making it any easier either. DarylXOC


My first time writing a walking dead story.

R&R

The new world is silent. It's horrifying at first for a little girl like her, barely eight, to wake up in a place that was not her bright yellow bedroom, but a grey place that had a strange odor. It was horrifying to watching her mother move about as she was putting away articles of clothing into a brown cupboard but… to not hear her footsteps – to not hear anything.

Her large brown eyes had darted up to the television which was as noiseless as everything around her. Her small caramel colored hand went to her ears, _which were not working, _feeling the bandages around her head. She must have whimpered then because her mother turned around quickly, her green almond shaped eyes widened. Her mother's lips had moved but no words came out. At least not words she could hear. Her mother had then darted out, leaving her all alone in the quiet world. She had cried out for her mother, not able to hear her own voice. Her mother returned with a man in a white coat with a few rainbow stickers on the tiny pocket in front. He had said something to her and flashed a bright light in her eyes. She brought her hands to her ears again and shook her head.

'Mommy, I can't hear.' She was pretty sure the words had left her mouth but her ears weren't able to pick up on it. Her mother had pushed by the frowning doctor and took her tiny body into a hug. She could feel her mother sob as she clutched on to her tightly. She began to cry as well, unsure what was going on.

Her daddy came after she had calmed down and a pretty nurse had brought her jello. She loves her daddy, he's big and his hugs are always secure and warm. He hugs her so tight then she thinks he will never let go, she hopes he never lets go. He gently pats her bandaged head with a big dark hand and she can practically hear him say: "It's alright, baby girl. Everything will be alright." Her arms wrap around his neck and she takes a deep sniff of his smell – dirt and sweat; he owned a landscaping business.

He let's go, resting a hand on top of her head as he looks her in the eye. His lips move but…

"_I can't hear you, daddy." _She can tell he's already aware of this because he only nods, a sad smile gracing his lips. He then turns to Mommy, who is standing silently nearby tears in her eyes. His dark eyes flash angrily and the way his jaw clenches it's like he's yelling something. He's not mad at Mommy though, she can tell. She wonders who he's mad at and for a fleeting moment thinks it's her. She thinks her Daddy is mad at her because her ears don't work no more. Her mother looks worried and nods slowly, tugging at her long black hair.

Her Daddy turns to her before he leaves and smiles at her gently. He then kisses her on her forehead then he's gone. The girl is upset he leaves so quickly, but her mother pats her head and gently puts her underneath the covers. Her eyes grow instantly heavier and before long she's asleep.

The next evening her father returns again in the middle of her doing a crossword puzzle and she's happy to see him, but frowns upon seeing who is with him. A white boy who's around fourteen – dirty and unfortunately dressed – is being led in, her father's heavy dark hand on his shoulder. The boy stares at the ground as he walks stubbornly, but finally looks up at her with very light blue eyes.

Her head turns in confusion and she frowns – she had been expecting her brother. Then, a memory returns to her, one with fireworks and her brother fighting a boy who had called them a mean name. The boy had eyes like this boy.

Her brother had taken her to shoot fire crackers on top of a hill in the woods behind their house. They were alone at first, and then the boy with the bright eyes had appeared with a group of dirty white boys. The boys had told her and her brother that they couldn't be up there; her brother had asked why and had said the hill was public property - it belonged to no one. The boy in front had called them a name and told them to get off 'his' hill. Her brother had refused and a fight broke out. The boys were evenly matched in age but her brother outweighed the thin boy by a good amount and comes out victor in the fight.

The thin boy had started to limp back over to his group who were throwing jeers and teases at him. The boy must of gotten angry because he turned around, dug into his pockets and pulled out a long stem of fire crackers and lite it and threw it at them. Her brother had shielded his eyes and had yelled for her to do similar.

She could remember loud popping and she covering her eyes with her arm and taking steps backwards out of fear. Then, she was falling – falling down the hill. She woke in the hospital, her ears not working anymore.

Her father pointed at her and said something and those bright eyes had widened briefly before going to the floor. Her father continued to say things she couldn't hear and the boy only stood their listening.

If she could hear, she would have heard her father telling the boy that he would have to take on responsibility for her now. That it was all his fought that his little girl would never hear again. She would have heard her father telling the boy that he was giving him a chance, a chance to not end up like his father and his brother and to be important to someone instead of a burden and nuisance to all. He wouldn't call the cops, who wanted so badly to put another 'Dixon' behind bars, but it was the boy's choice to make.

HM

When she's eleven she obsessed with vegetation, and spends most of her time in the garden behind their house. It's one of few things she's good at, and hearing isn't an important quality. Her mother worries that an eleven year old girl shouldn't be using up most of her time calf deep in mud and she be out with friends her age. What friends? She's homeschooled and there aren't any of those hearing impaired groups neither in their small town, nor in the town closest by. She likes being alone with her plants anyway.

She yanks a pesky weed out of the ground with her hands, and wipes the trickling sweat from her brow and looks towards the unrelenting sun with a frown. _Why so hot?_ Her eyes close tightly.

She can sense him rather than hear him approach from behind and a smile appears on her lips and she turns and looks up at the teen, one eye open, and one eye closed. Daryl…

He's not at all surprised when she turns around so he's sure to give the girl an unimpressed stare. One would believe being able to sneak up on her would be easy. His head shakes and he hands out a baggy to her filled with tiny brown seeds.

She grins and reaches for a notepad laying a few inches away in the grass along with a pen.

_Thanks, _she quickly writes and flashes it to him

He grunts. "You're momma said come in and stop playing in tha dirt."

She watches his lips carefully frowning. _Tell her I'm… never mind. Why aren't you in school?_

The males face goes blank. "I don't need no school." She frowns then gives him a blank look, shaking her head. She carefully begins to stand, he's quick with helping her to her feet and she gives him a thankful smile and he looks away. She lightly punches him in the arm and points to her notepad before quickly scribbling something down and showing it too him.

"I ain't hungry."

The young girl looks upset and crosses her arms, pouting. He openly groans. This kid was relentless. He guessed her having no one but her momma to be around since her brother left for college had to be awful. A familiar feeling of guilt crawled into his gut, it was his fault.

"Fine, I'll eat with ya." He grumbles and has to repeat more clearly after. The girl claps happily and jumps up and down.

HM

When she's seventeen, she's more into reading and wondering off alone. He comes over in the afternoon like usual, but today her mother is fretting around on their lawn looking worried, and for the first time ever the woman thanks God upon seeing him.

"I can't find her." She wails. "She was just going for a walk, four hours ago!" The woman's green eyes are large with worry. "Should I call the cops? Should I call Tony?"

"I'll find her." He interrupts the woman. "She couldn't have gotten into too much trouble." That girl…

Her mother seems to relax a little when he tells her this. "Thank you so much, Daryl."

Daryl's already walking off the way the girl has likely gone. It takes about fifteen minutes to find the girl sitting on top of a green grassy hill, dressed in a pink sun dress her black hair fanned out around her, curtaining her face which was bent forward as she quietly read from a book.

He comes to a stop for a moment watching the girl who wasn't quite a little girl anymore. The words of some idiot from town when he had taken her grocery shopping last week rang loudly in his head. _That's a pretty piece of ass. _The nauseating dirt bag had said. She had walked by completely oblivious to the man's statements. Daryl clenched his jaw just thinking about it.

He approached her thinking she would turn around; when the girl continues to be engrossed with her book he lightly taps her on her shoulder. She turns around quickly, eyes wide, and a yelp of surprise escapes her. Then she notices it's him and he amusedly raises an eyebrow. She childishly pouts and he caringly ruffles her dark hair.

"What are you reading?" He asks lightly. She's already picking up a notepad lying beside her and scribbles quickly. "_Oliver Twist_…" He very slowly reads with a scowl. "Shouldn't you be on more advanced reading like _Hamlet… _some useless shit like that?" Her face goes blank for a second before quickly writing something else on the notepad. "How in the hell do I remind of you Oliver Twist?" He nearly shouts and she quietly giggles. "What ya trying to say?"

She innocently shakes her head.

"Whatever, it's time to get ya home before your ma calls in the military."

Her smile fades and she looks down, gripping the notepad in her lap.

"Not feeling like going home yet, huh?" He questions waiting until she looked up to say. Her eyes watched his lips, and then she lightly shrugged. Looking away again, then back at him, then down again as she once again wrote a few words on her notepad. "You want me to read with you?" She nods. She lightly pats the grass beside her. "Mila…" he trails trying to think of an excuse besides her mother wanting her home. "Fine, for a little while," He takes a seat beside her and she happily puts the book for he can see. "Annoying kid…" She lightly punches him, having been watching his face when he had said that. He winces in mock pain.

Near sunset he feels her head hit his shoulder and mumbles under his breath, lightly shrugging to wake the girl. She never stirred. Sighing he closed the book and sat her notepad on top of it and picked the items up before gently picking the light girl up. He was on his way to her house carrying her when she had suddenly lifted up and placed a small kiss in the area near his mouth. He came to a stunned stand-still. He quickly sets her down and takes hold of her shoulders, looking at her firmly.

"Don't ever do that again," He has no way of being certain she was even able to read his lips in the lack of light, but he hands her back her book and notepad and turns away, taking off walking quickly. His heart moved rapidly in his chest. Why in the hell did she have to go and do that for?

She follows he can tell by her slow moving feet after he's a few paces away. Sometime between then and when they make it back; she attempts to stifle a sob, which nearly throws him off his feet. But he continues walking, ignoring sobs. He had too. It was wrong in so many ways.

When he finally drops her off at home, the girl is dry eyed when her mother attacks her with a hug and leads her inside. He watches her go.

Their relationship isn't even remotely how it was after that. He comes by often still, but he's awkward and she's quiet. Visits grow fewer and fewer as the years go by.

HM

When people began eating each other he goes for her.

"What in the hell - I ain't gonna be waiting around while you go find that fucking coon." Merle hisses as Daryl ignores him and turns into an apartment's parking lot. "I'm not gonna get ate on for some fucking deaf bitch."

Daryl gets from his truck and looks towards the apartment Mila had moved into a few years ago after she had gotten a job at the library in town. He leaves his keys inside. "If you wanna leave, leave." He grunts at his brother before moving quickly across towards the apartments. It was pretty calm here unlike the other parts of town which was going crazy with people looting and eating each other.

He quickly rings her doorbell, which would make the lights inside her apartment flicker to tell her someone was ringing her doorbell. A moment later she answers, fully dressed even though it's in the middle of the night, as if she was expecting him.

He moves by her into her apartment without permission as she looks at him blankly. He heads to her bedroom and throws open her closest getting her suitcases and begins throwing clothes into one of them. She tugs on his shirt to get his attention, glaring at him.

"Have you watched the news?" He asks slowly, his eyes flickering over her face.

The woman slowly nods, face blank as ever.

"Then why in the hell are you wondering why I'm here?" He yells at her. "I came to get you." She crosses her arms. "Can you pick another time to be mad at me about what happened nine years ago, huh?" He can tell his words struck deep but he can feel bad later. He closes her suite case and grabs her wrist tugging her out of her apartment. "Now, stay close to me."

He throws her bag on the back of the truck and opens his door for her to get in. She looks from him to a sneering Merle. Was he honestly suggesting for her to sit next to the bigot?

"What?" Merle nastily snaps. "I won't bit ya."

Daryl light nudges her to the truck and she very reluctantly gets in, leaving as much room between her and Merle as possible.

"Leave her alone." The younger Dixon son says before Merle can even open his mouth. He then cranks the car.

"Damn, I haven't even opened my mouth." The man grunts. "I ain't gonna mess with your lil' caramel squeeze. Lil' bitch has nice tits and she ain't bad to look at but I like'em to be able to hear me calling them bitch." The man laughs at his own joke. "Though lil' brother when are you going to quit taking responsibility for ere, I think after eighteen years you've finally repaid making her go deaf." Daryl ignores him, happy that Mila was ignoring both of them, staring at her lap.

FV

Mila bites her lip and looks up towards Daryl who's saying something and glances towards Merle who is also saying something. A sigh escapes her. They've been driving for hours and her legs were cramping, Merle was taking up as much room as he could – forcing her to press up against the other Dixon brother – and she had no idea the location they were headed.

She had no idea what was going on.

She had watched the news, read the floating subtitles underneath, and processed the worried faces of each reporter, the grim faces of scientists. Had watched as a reporter went out into the fray of things and had watched as the channel went black when he was attacked. She had called her mother right away, her mother had answered right away. The large black text had appeared on the lighted screen on her phone, all her mother said was: _Wait for Daryl and I love you_

She couldn't even hear those words – the last words, she was sure, her mother would ever say to her. Her mother was handing her over to Daryl who would come; there was no doubt about it. Only, she wished he hadn't.

Her eyes had drifted to him and he, feeling her eyes on him, had glanced at her, then back ahead, then at her once again. "We're goin' to Atlanta." She frowns. Atlanta, the news had said something about a safe center.

Soon the highway turned into more of a parking lot, and all cars came to a complete and utter stop. Words are exchanged over her head between Merle and Daryl, and then Daryl steps from the car and holds out his hand for her.

"We're going to find out what's going on." Not wanting to touch him and run the chance of feeling weird, she gets from the truck by herself and smooth down her skirt, looking at him expectantly. If he's put out by her refusing his help, he hides it well. "Stay close to me," he closes the truck's door and begins to lead her towards a group of people. Glancing behind her, she gives Merle a skeptical look, not feeling comfortable being the middle of a Dixon sandwich.

Merle comes right out and asks what's going on, and not in a very nice way considering the faces most of the group gave him. She gets a few quick glances, especially when Merle becomes more vocal. Looks like 'What in the hell is she with them for?'

Too many people are talking at once for her to truly keep up with what's being said and it makes her feel useless – vulnerable. All her life, it had been like that. Feeling vulnerable, feeling left out, feeling useless and always needing to be cuddled and protected. Always needing Daryl Dixon…

At a point, nearly everyone head turns upwards, obviously hearing something. She also looks up upon noticing this, watching as a helicopter fly's through the air towards the city – Next thing, the city is being bombed.

She can only watch in morbid shock and everyone else is similarly horrified. She's faintly certain everyone is silent – everything is as well. Silence.

R&R


End file.
